Korean Exchange Hacked for $40 Million as Global Crypto Markets Continue to Suffer From Cybercrime

In the biggest story from the weekend, the cryptocurrency market saw 5-15% losses across the board yesterday, with some speculating that the downtrend may be due to news of a Korean crypto exchange called Coinrail losing over $40 million in altcoins in an attack by hackers.

The hackers reportedly took $19.5 million of NPXS tokens, $13.8 Aston X, $5.8 million of Dent, $1.1 million Tron and lesser amounts of 5 other tokens. The account number of the hackers has been identified, and the details of the attack can be seen here. In total it is estimated around 30% of Conrail’s total assets were taken.

In the hours following the attack, the entire crypto market went on a massive downtrend, losing almost $45 billion in total market value. Bitcoin lost over 10% value dropping below the $7000 price mark.

This most recent attack adds on to the over $1.1 billion reported to have already been stolen this year by cybercriminals. Exchanges have been the primary victims making up nearly 27% of all attacks. Earlier this year Japanese exchange Coincheck had $530 million stolen, along with BitGrail losing $170 million and Blackwallet at $400,000.

In an unregulated market being run on new technology, these attacks serve as bitter reminders that cryptocurrency security has a long way to go before it can shake off its dog-eat-dog wild western image. In 2014, customers at Mt. Gox exchange lost 744,408 BTC valued at $530 million in a hacker attack. These assets are now valued at over $5.3 billion.

As always it is encouraged for investors to exercise extreme caution when buying and holding crypto investments. It is recommended that every investor keep their funds held in a secure hardware wallet, and off exchanges whenever possible.

Korea is a booming cryptocurrency market, but Coinrail is one of the smaller Korean exchanges. We are still waiting on news from Coinrail as to if and when it will be providing any compensation for its customers. The site has been down for maintenance since the attack, and has frozen the remainder of its assets.

Coinrail has tweeted that they are partnering with the attacked alt coin teams and investigating agencies to try to freeze the stolen supply. Many of the altcoin companies have completely frozen their entire supply including Aston, NPER and NPXS. Pundi, the development team by NPXS, has sated that they will incinerate any of the coins they cannont recover from the attack. Most recent reports state two thirds of the total amount stolen has now been frozen.

Disclaimer: UNHASHED strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. The information found on UNHASHED may be different than what you see when you visit a cryptocurrency exchange, wallet, or other cryptocurrency product's site. When visiting a third party site from UNHASHED, please be sure to review their site's terms and conditions. UNHASHED is not responsible for any financial losses or gains you may have when investing in cryptocurrency. Always use your best judgement when investing any cryptocurrency and when using any cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets, or other products.